Australia’s child protection system faces growing calls to be brought under federal jurisdiction amid concerns over systemic failures that disproportionately affect Indigenous children. Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has urged the Commonwealth government to assume full responsibility for child safety, arguing that the current fragmented approach across states and territories leaves vulnerable children at risk.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Brisbane, Senator Nampijinpa Price described the existing state-based child protection framework as a “patchwork” that allows children to slip through the cracks. She emphasized that child safety should be prioritized over cultural and kinship considerations, asserting that the prevailing emphasis on maintaining Indigenous cultural connections can sometimes hinder timely interventions necessary to protect children from abuse or neglect.
“If we were ever to hold a referendum in this country, it should be about child safety,” she said. “There needs to be a more straightforward approach, fundamentally about protecting the absolute human rights of children.” Senator Nampijinpa Price also criticized Labor governments for what she called a reluctance to enable adoption, contending that race-based considerations in child placement policies often prevent children from accessing stable and permanent homes.
The senator’s comments come amid heightened scrutiny of child protection services following several tragic cases, including the recent alleged murder of her niece, Kumani-jy Little Baby, in Alice Springs, and the deaths of the three Hawke children in Western Australia in 2022. These incidents have prompted calls for urgent reform in child welfare systems, particularly concerning Indigenous communities.
Western Australian Liberal legal affairs spokesman Nick Goiran announced plans to introduce a private member’s bill aimed at clarifying the state attorney-general’s ability to initiate child protection inquiries, drawing from Queensland’s existing framework. Goiran expressed skepticism over the effectiveness of royal commissions, advocating instead for ongoing systemic pressure to achieve tangible outcomes.
In WA, Premier Roger Cook has faced criticism for his government’s handling of child protection failures. Despite intense lobbying from prominent legal figures, the federal Indigenous Australians Minister, opposition parties, Aboriginal leaders, and family members of deceased children, Cook has declined to direct the state coroner to hold an inquest into the Hawke children’s deaths. This refusal has drawn sharp rebuke from within the community and senior officials, including a former WA director-general of Communities who held current Child Protection Minister Jessica Stojkovski and department head Mike Rowe responsible for the failures.
“There is an unwillingness in this government to apply the same standards of care and protection to Aboriginal children living in certain towns and communities that would be politically unacceptable elsewhere,” the former bureaucrat said, underscoring that both the minister and director-general bear constitutional and administrative accountability under the Westminster system.
The controversy has intensified in Indigenous communities such as Port Hedland, where local elder Pat Mason condemned the premier’s hesitance to engage directly with the crisis. Mason accused Cook and Labor’s local member of neglecting the region amid increasing reports of child harm, describing the situation as the “biggest Aboriginal crisis in decades.”
In response, Premier Cook defended his record on Indigenous affairs, stressing the complexity of multigenerational disadvantage and his government’s cooperation with federal Closing the Gap initiatives. He emphasized the difficulty of the work but affirmed a commitment to continued efforts.
New revelations published last week indicate that the WA Housing Department had requested a child safety investigation into the Hawke children two years prior to their deaths, which the Department of Communities allegedly ignored. Opposition MP Reece Whitby, responsible for child protection, said he was reviewing the information to determine whether it constituted fresh evidence that could warrant an inquest, which the government has so far resisted.
The ongoing debate highlights deep tensions regarding the balance between cultural preservation and child safety, the governance of child protection systems, and accountability within government structures tasked with safeguarding Australia’s most vulnerable children.